With the development of the Internet and mobile communication technologies, people may perform such communication as data exchange and message interaction, using a method, e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN), an e-mail and an Instant Messenger (IM) tool. Data exchange includes document transmission, application sharing, and audio and video documents sharing. The document transmission refers to sending, by a document sender, a sharing document to a document receiver using such a method as logging on another computer, using attachment of an e-mail, and using an IM tool. Here, the document refers to a document containing only text and pictures, such as a Word document, an Excel table document, an AutoCAD drawing document and a Photoshop graph document. To view the contents of a sharing document normally, the document receiver must have applications associated with the sharing document installed. In order to reduce the types of the applications to be installed on a document receiver, the above sharing document may also be converted into a document of PDF format. However, in such a case, the PDF document still cannot be read if the document receiver has not had the corresponding application installed.
Usually, people transmit a document using an IM client on a computer or a mobile terminal. A process for transmitting a sharing document with an IM tool, in which an IM user A serves as a document sender and an IM user B serves as a document receiver, is hereinafter described in detail.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of the conventional method for transmitting a sharing document with an Internet IM tool. As shown in FIG. 1, when both an IM user A and an IM user B use an Internet IM tool, the method for transmitting a sharing document with the IM tool includes the following steps of.
Step 101: the IM user A selects a document to be shared.
In this step, the IM user A selects the document to be shared with the IM user B, such as a text document, a Word document, an AutoCAD document and an Excel document, from the documents stored in a computer to the IM user A.
Steps 102˜103: the IM user A requests the IM server for the Internet Protocol (IP) address and port of the IM user B; the IM server returns the IP address of the IM user B to the IM user A.
A unique identifier, such as a user name, a user number, or an e-mail address of the IM user B, is carried in the request for the IP address and the port sent from the IM user A to the IM server. Then, with the unique identifier of the IM user B as the index, the IM server finds out the current IP address and port to the IM user B and returns them to the IM user A.
Step 104: the IM user A tries to connect the IM user B according to the acquired IP address and port.
In this step, the IM user A sends, according to the IP address and port acquired from the IM server, a connection request to the IM user B to try to establish a connection with the IM user B.
Step 105: the IM user A verifies whether the connection to the IM user B succeeds, and performs Step 106 if yes; otherwise, proceeds to Step 107.
In this step, if the IM user A receives a response of the IM user B before a timer of the IM user A expires, the IM user A deems that he has succeeded in connecting with the IM user B; otherwise, the IM user A deems that he cannot connect with the IM user B.
In general, if the IM user B is in a public network or a firewall of the IM user B is weak, the IM user A can connect with the IM user B directly. In other cases, the IM user A cannot connect with the IM user B directly.
Step 106: the IM user A transmits the document to the IM user B and performs Step 109.
Since the IM user A may directly establish the connection with the IM user B, in this step, the IM user A directly sends the document selected in Step 101 to the IM user B.
Steps 107˜108: the IM user A sends the document to the IM server and requests the IM server to send the document to the IM user B; then, the IM server sends, based upon the IP address and port of the IM user B, the document coming from the IM user A to the IM user B, and performs Step 109.
Step 109: the IM user B checks and views the received document.
In this step, after receiving the document sent from the IM user A, the IM user B opens the document using software associated with the document and checks and views the contents of the document. Thus, an objective of sharing the same document with the IM user A is achieved. For example, if what the IM user A sent is a Word document, the IM user B opens the Word document using software, such as an Office or a WordPad.
What is described above is a process of transmitting a sharing document between the IM user A and the IM user B using the Internet IM tool. Of course, the sharing document may also be transmitted by using a wireless IM tool used in an intelligent cell phone. The description is hereinafter presented with the example in which the IM user A uses a wireless IM tool while the IM user B uses an Internet IM tool.
FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a conventional method for transmitting a sharing document with the Internet or an IM tool. As shown in FIG. 2, the method for transmitting a sharing document between an IM user A using a wireless IM tool and an IM user B using an Internet IM tool includes the following steps.
Step 201: an IM user A selects a document to be shared.
In this step, the IM user A selects the document to be shared with the IM user B, such as a text document, a Word document, an AutoCAD document and an Excel document, from the documents stored in the computer to the IM user A.
Step 202: the IM user A sends the document to an IM server through a wireless gateway and requests the IM server to send the document to the IM user B.
In this step, a mobile terminal used by the IM user A routes to the wireless gateway first, and meanwhile, the document and a request for sending the document are sent to the wireless gateway; then, the wireless gateway sends the received document and the request for sending the document to the IM server. A unique identifier of the IM user B is carried in the request for sending the document of the IM user A.
Step 203: the IM server sends the document to the IM user B.
In this step, the IM server searches out, based on the unique identifier of the IM user B, an IP address and port of the IM user B, and sends the document to the IM user B.
Step 204: the IM user B checks and views the received document.
In this step, after receiving the document sent from the IM user A, the IM user B opens the document using software associated with the document, checks and views the contents of the document. Thus, an objective of sharing the same document with the IM user B is achieved. For example, if what the IM user A sent is a Word document, the IM user B opens the Word document using software, such as an Office or a WordPad.
Thus, a process for transmitting a sharing document between the IM user A and the IM user B is completed.
If both the IM user A and the IM user B log on a wireless IM client through an intelligent cell phone, in order that a sharing document is transmitted from the IM user A to the IM user B, the IM server first sends the document to a wireless gateway after Step 202, and the wireless gateway sends the document to the IM user B.
Likewise, in the case that the IM user A uses an Internet IM tool while the IM user B uses a wireless IM tool, in order that a sharing document is transmitted from the IM user A to the IM user B, the IM user A first sends the document to the IM server, and the IM server sends the document to the IM user B through a wireless gateway.
In the above method for transmitting a sharing document with an IM tool, a document receiver must have had the software associated with the document installed in the computer or mobile terminal to the document receiver so as to open a received document and then view and check the contents of the document; the document receiver cannot open and look over the received document if the software associated with the document has not been installed in the computer or the mobile terminal to the document receiver. Moreover, if a version of the software installed in the computer or mobile terminal to the document receiver differs from that of the software with which the document was edited, inconsistency in positions of characters and pictures between the document and original ones may occur, which influences a user reading the sharing document normally.
Likewise, in the case that a sharing document is transmitted using such mode as a LAN or an e-mail, the document receiver must also have had the application associated with the sharing document installed in the computer or mobile terminal, and otherwise, the sharing document can not be read normally.